Description

Mine owner, John F. "Jack" Lawler, and unidentified men inside the Comstock and Dexter Mine, Hillside-Bagdad, Yavapai County, Arizona.

The Comstock and Dexter mining property was on a tributary of Boulder Creek, in the Eureka Mining District, about 1 1/2 miles south of the Hillside mine at an elevation of 3,399 feet. The commodities mined were gold, primarily, with secondary amounts of silver, copper and lead. The mine's vein consisted of irregular combinations of course white quartz that varied from a few inches to as much as 1 1/2 feet in width.

During the late eighties and early nineties, the Dillon brothers worked this deposit and treated their ore in a small stamp mill. Later, the mine was acquired by John F. "Jack"  Lawler and associates. Lawler was a prominent miner and businessman in Prescott. He was the locator of the famous Hillside Mine and the driving force behind the promotion and organization of the Eureka Mining District. According to local people, the deposit produced several thousand dollars worth of gold. Most of the ore mined consisted of oxidized material from the upper level which, according to Lawler's reports, generally averaged less than $16 per ton in gold.

In 1932, the General Minerals Company obtained the property, built a new camp and a road that connects with the Hillside mine road, and started sinking a new shaft. Operations at the Comstock Dexter mine were suspended in 1933.